, 1887-08-05

The news would tranform the scene.
The d~rawbridge leading on to the quav
was at last reached and crossed, and
Pauline once more stood in the midst Of
the active crowd of sworkers. Sh,
glanced about in search of her friend
Marcel, the powerful sailor whom She
had left in the act of hauling heavy
baskets of fish at the head of the ladder.
He was no longer standing at his post.
The girl FASTENED toward the cafe.
She found him seated there with a petit
verre at his side. He looked up inquir-
ingly as she entered.
Save him, Marcelv' cried Pauline,
clasping her hands. ''Save himl"
Marcel stared, as though doubling
P%auline's saneness.
1.-THE Lionne is trying to enter the
harbor,' explained the glrl; "she will DO
dashed to pieces against the jetty. There
is not amoment to lose. Save Fernando
Marcel sprang to his feet. The cafe
was crowded.
"To the rescued" he exclaimed.
Every one to u man uttered a cheer,
and followed Marcel out upon the quay.
The news which Pauline had brought
spread like wildfre. The excitement in
the harbor became general. The sailors
on board the fishing smaoks left their
work and went with Marcel in a hurry
ing crowd toward the jetty. Pauline
Del1le was among the foremost.
The Jetty was long and narrow, and
curved gradually out to sea. At the ex-
treme' end, or entrance to the harbor, a
bright red lamp was burning stead
lily. Toward this red lamp the crowd
advanced, against the wind, which blew
in their faces with such sudden and pow
erful gusts that it was difficult to make
much Roadway. Every wave that broke
against the jetty covered these brave
people with a singing shower of spray.
Marcel was the first to reach the ietty
head, and Pauline was still close beside
him. Looking seaward with a sailors
keen eye, Marcel perceived a faint light
rising and falling among the waves. He
pointed it out to the girl.
That's the Lionne," said he; ''she is
steering up against the tide. We are
not here a moment too soon."
He then turned to the men and gave
his instructions in a loud, commanding
voice. Everything was quickly got in
readiness to render aid to the distressed
vessel. Ropes were hauled forward and
firmly attached, and every man was
speedily stationed at his post prepared for
action.
Pauline Delille leaned eagerly over the
low wall of the jetty. She watched the
light on board the Lionne as it rose and
fell, and was sometimes hidden entirely
behind high waves. Slowly it APP
preached nearer and nearer toward the
narrow entrance to the harbor. She
knew that the slightest characterization,
or the least mishap to the rudder, and the
boat would be dashed to pieces against
the projecting masonry. Those few mo-
ments of suspense seemed to her like d
lifetime; her agony was terrible when she
reflected that they might be her lovers
last moments OF earth. The sunny days
they had passed together in their native
village, n the plans they had formed
for the future, rose up in her mind only
to increase the sense of bewilderment and
despair. And yet she lost no confidence
in Fernand; no pilot could guide a boat
with greater skill.
Closer and closer came the light towards
the harbor, and at some moments SO conf
pletely lost among the waves that Pauline
was seized with the overwhelming fear
that the Lionne had sunk never to rise
again. But presently a hugh wave leap
ing high brought the fishing smack, with
a sudden rush INC a loud roar, into the
narrow opening where the lamps on each
side of the jetty glimmered down upon
the broken sail, a number of fishermen
clinging to the spars, and the stout
hearted Fernand Demarre still stationed
at the helm.
But h great wave upon which the
Lionne was lifted into port had scarcely
subsidized when another wave leapt after
it, and sweeping forward struck the
bow of the boat with such force
that Fernand lost his balance, and was
flung overheard before Pauline's eyes.
A cry of horror rose from the crowd, hut
it was quickly silenced; for Marcel, the
muscular fisherman, had sprung upon
the wall of the jetty, with a rope bound
round his waist. In another moment he
had been lowered into the sea.
A minute of terrible suspense followed;
Marcel and Pauline's brave lover were
struggling, half hidden by the surf, at
the very entrance to the harbor. A sin
gle wave might, without warning, dash
both men against a wall of the jetty and
deprive them of life. But the men were
both excellent swimmers, and well knew
their danger, and meanwhile they were
being carried farther into the harbor out
of the toughest sea. Fernand had now
got near enough to his friend Marcel to
seize an end of the rope; and they could
keep themselves af1oat while swimming
side by side. At the same time a large
boat from the harbor, rowed by two
fishermen, was making toward them,
every stroke of their oars was watched
by Pauline with a mingled sense of hope
fulness and dread. Could, she thought,
such an unequal contest be much longer
sustained? The struggle was enough to
exhaust the best of swimmers. But the
boa reached them al last, though mono
too soon; for the two men, when lifted
into the boat, were more dead than alive
with cold and fatigue. They were taken,
amid great excitement upon the quay,
into the inner harbor; and the first face
which Fernand Demarre caught sight of,
as he was carried up the steps on to the
quay, was his sweetheart's-th the face of
Pauline.
As long as she lived Pauline never for
got that night. In after years, when
seated with her children round the fire,
she would recount to them how their
father was caught in that storm, and how
their friend, the brave Marcel, saved his
life. And once a year, on the day of the
pilgrimage, she assembled the steep cliff
and nffaral nm n - ro 90 tIa,1rc~,r;n,